Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free

by Linda Kay Klein

From a woman who has been there and back, the first inside look at the devastating effects evangelical Christianity?s purity culture has had on a generation of young women?in a potent combination of journalism, cultural commentary, and memoir.
In the 1990s, a ?purity industry? emerged out of the white evangelical Christian culture. Purity rings, purity pledges, and purity b From a woman who has been there and back, the first inside look at the devastating effects evangelical Christ...

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Title

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Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free

Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement that Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free

ISBN

Format Type

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Hardcover

Number of Pages

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352 pages pages

Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free Reviews

neilOct 10, 2018

This is the best book I've read about the purity movement. I've read a few memoirs from ex-Evangelicals during the past year or so, and many have touched on the purity movement and the damage it caused, but this one does a lot more--Klein tells her own story, as well as the story of ma...

LeahOct 28, 2018

This book is incredible. It is a book that should have been written years ago, but it comes at such an appropriate time in the culture right now. For any woman who grew up in the purity culture of the 90s, the stories will feel familiar. My emotions were triggered so much when reading ...

SarahAug 05, 2018

Thanks to Touchstone and Netgalley for this ARC.
I grew up on the fringes of purity culture. It wasn?t part of my religious upbringing, but I was pretty well acquainted with the movement as a teen in the 90?s. Mostly I mocked it, as I did most things associated with the Christi...

MehrsaSep 21, 2018

I didn't grow up evangelical, but I completely understand this purity culture and I'm glad people like Klein are writing about it. The purity myth is another great book on the same theme.
I did not love the format of the book--I wanted to hear more in Klein's voice, more history of...

KarylOct 22, 2018

I've never been a particularly religious person, but I did go to a Presbyterian (USA) church with my parents every week growing up. My youth group did discuss sex and taught us that we should remain virgin until marriage, but it was never the purity message that evangelicals adopted wh...

Canadian ReaderOct 11, 2018

Klein?s book about the ?purity movement? and sexual shaming of girls within the powerful evangelical community in the U.S. may focus on a worthy enough subject, but the writing is so pedestrian and hyperbolic that I felt no desire to persist beyond the very lengthy 34-page introd...

Becca YounkJan 11, 2019

This is really, really hard to review. I am glad this book exists, I think it's important for people within the evangelical movement to speak out against purity culture. I genuinely hope women can read this and find some answers in it, or at least know they are not alone. However, I al...

JulieDec 18, 2018

Positives: Kudos to this author for bringing light to an issue that gets very little attention. I absolutely agree that ?purity culture? has had some very lasting and damaging effects on many people. I also appreciate her thoroughness in presenting various stories: she includes sto...

ericaDec 19, 2018

Pure was a very emotional and personal read for me. Full review to come! ...

Robert D. CornwallSep 28, 2018

As I finished reading Pure, the U.S. Senate was concluding a day long hearing pitting the memories/claims of a previously obscure woman and the nominee for a life-time appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. The two may be different at one level and yet related at another. In the Senate...

Julia GrafOct 13, 2018

The subject matter is interesting but the writing is so stiff and basically just a transcript of her interviews. I was expecting more insight and conclusions from this book. ...

Cara MeredithJan 01, 2019

Welcome to the book that perfectly describes my late teens and early to mid-twenties. This needed to be explored and written and I?m so grateful for Linda Kay Klein?s diligence and insight. ...

Touchstone BooksJan 23, 2018

Wow. Shocking, deeply empathic, and meticulously researched, Pure exposes a terrifying phenomenon in this country?one that affects us all, evangelical or not. ...

Sarah GreeneOct 13, 2018

The best part of this book is the lengthy introduction, which is available on NPR.org, so you don't have to bother with the rest of it. I grew up with a youth group similar to Klein's and received much of the same well meaning but ridiculous education. She does an amazing job exposing ...

ChristinaSep 18, 2018

This book is sad on two levels.
1. The traumas experienced by so many women and the fact that distortion of Christian doctrine led to their abuse and/or struggles, in many cases driving them away from the church.
2. The fundamental misunderstanding of Christianity demonstrated by t...

Stefanie MerrifieldSep 06, 2018

(more in-depth review available at stefaniethelibrarian.wordpress.com)
The cover of this book says it all, "Inside the Evangelical Movement that Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free." Linda Kay Klein grew up in the evangelical church during the height of the puri...

Heather YockeySep 24, 2018

A weekend read. Once I started, I couldn?t put down. Mainly because of the stories, each page reminding me of a world that?s a long ways back in my rear view mirror. Wondering if 12 years ago, when I was much more a part of these circles would I have had the guts to read this book....

MakenzieNov 16, 2018

Wow... so much of this book was unfortunately very relatable to me, and I expect many of my friends could also identify with some of the stories told by the interviewees. While I didn?t grow up in the extremes of purity culture (True Love Waits, I Kissed Dating Goodbye, etc), its mes...

Ali ShawSep 13, 2018

I was raised in an evangelical community that HHS?s subscribed to purity culture. I lost count of the times while reading this book I felt relief and horror that other people had the same feelings and experiences I did. The book is well written, well researched and well paced. Highly...

JanelleOct 14, 2018

A timely, relevant, harrowing, and eye opening memoir about the purity movement.
If you?re anything like me, you find it fascinating to learn about a person?s life that is so different from your own. I was not raised in any sort of strict upbringing so the idea that a movement s...

Adina HiltonOct 11, 2018

This was a tough read for me. As someone who grew up in the Evangelical church, and went through a similar "breaking" from religion, a lot of Klein's experiences and traumas were familiar to me. I absolutely think a religious focus on purity is damaging to young girls, and to young boy...

Meaghan LeeDec 07, 2018

***Only read about 100 pages***
I was really disappointed that this book was so terribly written. The topic is so relevant and personal, I was hoping for great things. The author generalizes things that her friends tell her through interviews and applies that to the entire culture. ...

MollySep 17, 2018

If you grew up evangelical, or in any kind of religiously-based purity culture, your psyche probably really needs this book. It gets a little repetitive now and then, but the perspective is invaluable. ...

ValliSep 18, 2018

I grew up in the independent Christian church/Church of Christ, and though I managed by a combination of luck and apathy to never attend a True Love Waits retreat or sign a single purity pledge, I was well-versed in purity culture. It has deeply affected me and the other women I grew u...

MeghanMay 14, 2018

I received this book as an advanced reader's copy due to the requests and reviews from our patrons and from goodreads and this book was very powerful in the message that it conveyed. This "movement" impacted a lot of people and made a strong difference in not only that community but wo...

Carrie SurbaughSep 06, 2018

At points this was painful to read, seeing my experience of purity culture reflected in the stories of so many other people. However, the book was structured well and offered some hope for redemption of the evangelical church?s (really messed up) sexual ethic. ...

JessicaOct 24, 2018

Rough read, but I really appreciated the stats and the data Klein uses alongside people's stories. I've read a lot from other purity culture survivors, but it is always good to hear more of this message: we are not alone, we aren't broken, what we were told about ourselves was wrong. B...

Elizabeth BrushDec 05, 2018

WOW DO I FEEL VALIDATED ...

Molly SanchezOct 25, 2018

This is a secular look at how the church has handled the purity movement and has testimonials of how it has affected women in their sex life.
Although I think there are things identified in this book that I agree (the way man has wronged some in their incorrect teaching on handling s...

KevinAug 20, 2018

This book moved me to tears numerous times, as I read the stories of people whose lives were profoundly harmed by the Purity movement. But the book really speaks to cultural shaming of all kinds, even outside Christianity, and its message can be appreciated by everyone regardless of a ...

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